From the page:Most published scientific research papers are wrong, according to a new analysis. Assuming that the new paper is itself correct, problems with experimental and statistical methods mean that there is less than a 50% chance that the results of any randomly chosen scientific paper are true.

This immediately made me think of Richard Feynman’s famous ‘Cargo Cult Science‘ address of 1974. In this he talks about the lack of scientific integrity in the pseudoscience he terms ‘cargo cult science’. However, I feel that what he says applies to any investigation.

“…There is one feature I notice that is generally missing in cargo cult science…… It’s a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty — a kind of leaning over backwards. For example, if you’re doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid — not only what you think is right about it: other causes that could possibly explain your results; and things you thought of that you’ve eliminated by some other experiment, and how they worked — to make sure the other fellow can tell they have been eliminated.

Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them. You must do the best you can — if you know anything at all wrong, or possibly wrong — to explain it. If you make a theory, for example, and advertise it, or put it out, then you must also put down all the facts that disagree with it, as well as those that agree with it. There is also a more subtle problem. When you have put a lot of ideas together to make an elaborate theory, you want to make sure, when explaining what it fits, that those things it fits are not just the things that gave you the idea for the theory; but that the finished theory makes something else come out right, in addition.

In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another.”

This is the most northerly of all the chalk figures and Britain’s largest white horse in surface area. It was finished in 1857, fell into disrepair after the first world war and was renewed in 1925. During the second world war it was covered, then was almost destroyed by a storm in 1949. Local mouse furniture maker Robert Thompson was prominent in keeping the horse well groomed until his death in 1955. The White Horse Association maintains the horse today in conjunction with local farmers.

At one time I lived where I could see this white horse from my house — a sight I never tired of.

Spring thaw in the Northern Hemisphere was monitored this year by an Earth-orbiting NASA spacecraft carrying a new version of software trained to recognize and distinguish snow, ice, and water from space.

While other spacecraft only capture images when they receive explicit commands to do so, for the last year Earth Observing-1 has been making its own decisions. Based on general guidelines from scientists, the spacecraft automatically tracks events such as volcano eruptions, floods and ice formation. The most recent software upgrade allows the spacecraft to accurately recognize cryosphere changes such as ice melting.

On the left, Resolute Bay seen by the Hyperion instrument aboard Earth Observing-1. On the right, a visual representation of the analysis done by JPL’s new software. Credit: NASA/JPL

Noam Chomsky developed the commonly held theory that linguistic and mathematical mental processing draw on the same cognitive resources. This has been challenged by a team led by Rosemary Varley at the University of Sheffield, UK.

Their study found that although aphasic patients were unable to decode syntax-based linguistic expressions (eg. could not distinguish between “the boy chased the girl” and “the girl chased the boy”), they were all able to perform equivalent mathematical calculations (eg. 90 30 and 30 90) accurately with pen and paper.

Different processes underpin the grammars of numbers and language — suggesting that maths skills probably evolved independent of language.

Thanks to moderntimes for a link that sent me off to look into this further.

A new study of 42 non-human primates, looking at the origins of language, suggests that communication evolved hand-in-hand with social bonding.

Strong relationships between vocal repertoire size and group size, as well as between repertoire size and the amount of time spent grooming were observed. This suggests that changes in communication could possibly facilitate changes in social behaviour.

The researchers point out that there are radical differences between non-human primate vocal repertoires and human languages, so it does not follow that languages as complex as ours will necessarily follow from increases in group sizes and social interactions.